


Es-ca-pay!

by AwkwardPotatoChild



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Implied Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Implied Relationships, Implied Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Implied Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, escape room, i couldn't figure out when people left and returned and i just, i did my best for someone who's never done an escape room, i'm just so tired, kind of, they do an escape room together, this took so long to write, yeah - Freeform, you really need to squint with all of these relationships XP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 21:32:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11170488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardPotatoChild/pseuds/AwkwardPotatoChild
Summary: It's spelled just like "escape!"The Karasuno boys do an escape room together.(If this looks familiar, it's because I literally posted it and deleted it yesterday because I had forgotten to include a few things, so have this new and improved version! Now, with more stripping and yelling!)





	Es-ca-pay!

**Author's Note:**

> My first Haikyuu!! fic is finally done and I'm just so done with it because it took so fucking long to write and I'm just so tired! I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to write about an escape room when I've never done one myself, but here you go!
> 
> Like I said, up until this moment, I've never done an escape room before, so I used [this room](https://youtu.be/5r-PNLoy8J4) as a reference.
> 
> If this looks familiar, it's because I literally posted this and deleted this yesterday because I had forgotten to include a few things. XP
> 
> Enjoy?

Sawamura Daichi was frustrated.

He was slightly anxious when the start of his third year came around. Karasuno’s volleyball team had been in a rut for awhile and it seemed as if they would still be there a bit longer, with their ace leaving and their libero temporarily suspended. He didn’t want to have to remind himself of Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita leaving either. Them leaving left a gaping hole within the team that would be difficult to fill. He was grateful for their return, but finding their place back on the team proved harder than they thought it would be. All of them were uncertain of what to say and how to act. The division between them was obvious.

When the new first years arrived, he thought Karasuno would finally have some new hope. Tsukishima with his height and calmness made him a formidable blocker. Yamaguchi was quiet, but Daichi could feel how determined he was and knew he would go far in the future. Kageyama was already well-known for his extraordinary abilities as a setter and Hinata, though small, had a larger than life personality and even greater jumping abilities. This all seemed like the start to a new beginning for Karasuno. Maybe Karasuno could finally return to its former glory. Daichi finally felt like maybe they had found their wings again. Too bad they couldn’t figure out how to use them yet.

Individually, everyone was great. Maybe a bit rough around the edges, but practice would smooth them all out and make them shine. All of them were highly skilled players who would only get better and better as the year went on. But as a team? They were something akin to that game where you play as a piece of bread until you threw whatever kind of controller you were using at the screen. Each part not certain of how to interact with another, which ended with them floundering and arguing within the first minute of any game or practice. Daichi, Coach Ukai, and Takeda-sensei had done what they could to try and reign in their constant arguments, but nothing was working. This brought Daichi a lot of frustration.

Daichi had to do something. Karasuno had a team with so much potential, but that would all go to waste if they couldn’t get their act together. He had to find some way to unite them, some way to connect them, some way to get them all working together. But what?

“You alright there?”

“Uwah! What?!”

Daichi jumped at the feeling of someone’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to find the source and was met with the sight of his vice-captain laughing at his reaction. He gave a sigh of relief as he continued locking up the locker room.

“Sorry about that,” said Sugawara. “Didn’t mean to startle you there.”

Sugawara flashed Daichi his signature smile. Daichi gave a smile of his own and waved a hand to signify that it was alright. He gave another sigh before double checking that the door was locked. Turning to face each other, the pair began their usual after-practice walk home. Daichi remained silent since his thoughts had wandered back to the team and Sugawara let him remain there, but once he saw the deep furrows and frown on his friend’s face, he decided to break the silence.

“Daichi, is everything alright?”

Daichi didn’t startle this time and instead sighed deeply. He stopped walking and crossed his arms, his expression still tense as he stared at the ground. Sugawara waited patiently for Daichi to speak, concern running through him at what could possibly be plaguing his friend’s mind.

“Suga,” spoke Daichi after some time, “what are we going to do?”

“About what?”

“About the team,” sighed Daichi. He looked up to make eye contact with Sugawara who gave him an understanding look. He nodded, silently telling Daichi to continue with this train of thought.

“They all have so much potential and they could end up being the Karasuno that we were before, but they’re...not a team. All they do is fight and yell and then I yell at them and then they fight again and it’s just an endless cycle, Suga, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Sugawara gave Daichi a small smile before placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. The tired look remained in Daichi’s eyes, but his frown was now gone. Sugawara removed his hand as the captain gave another sigh. He then nodded his head and the two of them began walking again.

“There has to be something we can do. Something that’ll get them to work together. I thought the practice matches would help, but it’s only making it worse. We have to come up with something else.”

Daichi glanced over, trying to find agreement from Sugawara. Instead, he was met with Sugawara deep in thought and raised an eyebrow at this.

“Suga, you got anything?”

“Yeah, I do. I think I do.”

Sugawara turned to face Daichi with a grin before continuing.

“An escape room.”

“A what?”

“An escape room! You know, you get locked in a room with a group of people and you all work together to try and solve all of the clues to get out in time. It would be a great team-building exercise for the team!”

Sugawara seemed to be working himself up more to the idea and was now staring at Daichi with a wide grin. Daichi wasn’t going to deny the fact that this could possibly work, but he was still hesitant and that uncertainty showed in his expression.

“I don’t know, Suga,” said Daichi. “You know how they’re like. Knowing them, they’re probably going to end up hurting each other while locked in the room and then move on to destroying the room once they realize that they’ve gotten stuck on something. It’s a good idea, but maybe not for us.”

“It’s going to be fine,” reassured Sugawara. “They don’t actually lock the rooms, so you’re free to leave whenever technically. They try to make it pretty obvious what is or isn’t a clue. There’s always someone watching and listening as well, so it’s not like we’ll actually be stuck in there. There are a ton of safety precautions put in place. It’ll be fine.”

“Suga…”

“The team needs a way to be a team. I know it seems a bit much, but maybe locking them in a room is the best way to do it. We both know how competitive they all are. These rooms have time limits, which means they usually have a record or something to beat and you know they won’t be able to resist trying to beat it. They will definitely argue in the beginning, but once they realize that they have to work together to get out, they’ll be great and we’ll, hopefully, have a more cohesive team. Think about it, Daichi. This could work!”

Daichi looked at his vice-captain who was intently staring at him, waiting for his answer. He could he see how hopeful Sugawara was about this idea. He was still worried as he contemplated the pros and cons of this escape room idea, but the more he thought about the state of the team, the more he came to like the idea. This was a risk, but he was willing to take it if it meant getting all of them to finally work together, to finally be a team.

“Okay,” Daichi said after some time.

“Yes!” cheered Sugawara, pumping his fist into the air causing Daichi to laugh.

“Alright. Fine. Calm down there. You convinced me. We’ll do the escape room.”

“You won’t regret this, Daichi. It’s going to be fine. Just leave everything to me. I’ll figure this all out. Just be ready to solve some puzzles!”

Daichi laughed again at Sugawara’s happy expression. He shook his head and smiled slightly before changing the topic of conversation to something else. They chatted amicably until they separated in their paths and promised to see each other the next morning. As Daichi walked home, he felt something odd within him. Whether it was anxiety or excitement, he wasn’t sure.

* * *

Sugawara thought it was best to have the escape room activity on a weekend. Aside from Daichi, no one knew what he had planned out for them. The vice-captain thought it would be best to keep them all in the dark and merely told them the time, location, and that it was required that they show up to this “special practice session.”

He waited alongside Daichi who had shown up early to keep him company. They made small talk as they waited for the others to arrive. Sugawara laughed slightly when Daichi shook his head at the sight of the tired members, despite the fact that it was well past noon. Once gathered, Sugawara quickly brought them inside, so they could all be briefed and because with others around, the chances of them getting into another quarrel diminished and Sugawara wasn’t too keen on getting kicked out before they could do anything. Once inside, they were met by an employee whose seemed to be perpetually smiling.

“Hi there! You must be our 2 o’clock group!” chirped the employee.

“Yup! That’s us!” replied Sugawara at the front of the group. He didn’t have to turn around to see the curious and confused looks on the teams face.

“I’m assuming you’re all here?” The employee took note of Sugawara nodding and continued speaking. “Great! So thank you for getting here early! That gives me time to explain what you’ll be doing.

“So the escape room you’ll be doing today is a prison escape!”

“Prison? I’m too young to go to prison!” cried Asahi. “Suga, I don’t want to go to prison! I didn’t do anything! I swear! I’m only in high school!”

“Asahi, it’s going to be fine. It’s just a game. Okay? It’s just a game,” Sugawara patted Asahi’s shoulder. He gave the taller boy a gentle, reassuring smile. Asahi nodded slightly at this, allowing Sugawara to turn his attention back to the employee who continued the explanation.

“Right! So the story behind this is that you will all be locked up, but luckily, you have a friend who has left behind clues to help you get out. You’ll all be handcuffed and placed in different cells and you must work together to get out. You’ll have an hour to do so, but there will be clues that will give you additional time if you solve them. It’s not necessary to do so, but could help you out in the long run. Those special time clues will be marked with hour glass, so you won’t mistake them for something you might actually need. You have one hint that you can use, but you all must agree to using it. There will be random red herring clues to distract you, but you won’t know what those are until you escape. Time will be called at the halfway mark and when you have fifteen minutes left. That should be anything, so questions?”

Sugawara didn’t turn around, but he could see how the employee’s face perked up at someone raising their hand.

“Yes?”

“Can I go?” asked a bored Tsukishima. Of course it’d be him, thought Sugawara. The employee now looked uncertain of how to answer, so the vice-captain turned to face the team and answered before she could stutter out a response.

“Tsukishima-kun, everyone is required to do this, so no one will be leaving until we either finish the room or fail trying. Alright? Anyone else now?”

Sugawara smiled brightly at the team. Looking at them now, he could see the mixture of anticipation, worry, and boredom on their faces. Making eye contact with Daichi in the back of the group, the both nodded before facing the employee who lead them to their room.

Four different cells made up the room, two across from each other. Three members would be individually handcuffed in each of them and tasked with solving the clues in their cell and helping other cells out as well.  Cells 1 and 2 were next to each other, with cell 1 facing cell 3, while cell 2 faced cell 4. Cell 1 included Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Nishinoya. Cell 2 included. Ennoshita, Tanaka, and Kinoshita. Cell 3 had Daichi, Sugawara, and Asahi. Lastly, cell 4 included Kageyama, Hinata, and Narita.

Once locked up, the employee left and time started. Chaos ensued.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s work together and get out!” started Sugawara, trying to get them started. “Look through your cells for keys. We need to get out of these handcuffs first.” He couldn’t see into all of the cells, but the sounds coming from them were already beginning to worry him. He was fairly certain he heard Hinata hitting his head or something. He did his best to remain hopeful though.

“Suga! I don’t want to do this!” cried Asahi. Sugawara turned around to find their ace huddled in a corner. “What if we don’t make it out? I’m only in high school! I swear I’m not dealing drugs or in a gang!”

“Asahi! Asahi-kun! It’s alright! It’s okay!” said Sugawara with worry. Asahi was starting to hyperventilate, so to calm him down, Sugawara reached out to place both hands on his shoulder. He forgot about the handcuffs and awkwardly jerked about before remembering his situation and decided on placing only one hand on Asahi’s shoulder. “We’re going to be fine. It’s just a game. We’re going to get out within an hour and it’s going to be okay. Deep breaths, Asahi. It’s okay.”

Sugawara waited by Asahi’s side to ensure that his breathing was back to a more regular pace before standing up again. He was met with a look from Daichi.

“Suga…”

Sugawara gave Daichi a reassuring smile that made the captain’s concerned expression soften slightly.

“It’s going to be fine, Daichi,” said Sugawara. “It’s going to be fine.”

Sugawara walked over to Daichi and did the same awkward shoulder pat the had done with Asahi. Daichi laughed and shook his head at this, which made Sugawara smile before he turned his attention back to the rest of the team.

“Any keys yet? Asahi-kun is getting a bit anxious, so it’d be nice to get out of these handcuffs soon.”

“I have glasses! Maybe we have to use them to signal our way out!” called Hinata.

“Yeah! Good job, Hinata! That’s to be expected of my kohai!” yelled Nishinoya in return. Tanaka added his own yells of support as well.

“Ooohh! We have a bed with bedsheets in our cells! What if we tied them all together and made a ladder?!” added Hinata.

“Hinata might be onto something, everyone! I think we should follow his lead!” Tanaka called out his time.

“Yeah! Good idea!” Nishinoya chimed in.

“What the-?!” Ennoshita suddenly cut in. “Tanaka! How did you get your shirt off with handcuffs on?! Actually, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Just put your shirt back on, Tanaka! Tanaka! Come back here!”

Everyone, minus Ennoshita since he was busy dealing with Tanaka, shook their heads at the the energetic trio’s antics. No one was surprised by their behavior though.

“Stupid,” cut in Tsukishima. His voice echoed loudly in the space. “Not everything is a clue.”

Tsukishima sat down on the cell floor with his hands in his lap since he wasn’t able to cross them with the handcuffs on. He was already done with this situation and was ready to go home. The bored expression on his face didn’t change when he barely caught sight of Hinata’s short arms trying to reach for him through the cell bars.

“Hey! At least we’re trying, Tsukishima!” yelled Hinata indignantly.

Tsukishima said nothing in response, but he did shake his head when he heard Narita struggle to pull Hinata away from the bars and calm him down. Glad I’m not stuck with him, thought Tsukishima. Looking around his own cell, he wasn’t too fond about being stuck with the hyper libero, but at least, Yamaguchi was tolerable. Tsukishima wasn’t sure how much help he’d be though since he looked about ready to pass out from the stress too.

“Guys,” cut in Sugawara, “settle down. There’s no need to fight. It’s great that you’re finding possible clues and I’m happy to see you all be so enthusiastic, but none of this is going to help, if we’re still handcuffed and locked in our cells. We need to find the keys first.”

“There’s some weird writing on our walls and a..red triangle thingy? Maybe it’s a secret code that we have to crack!” said Nishinoya, ignoring his vice-captain.

“I think that’s an hourglass, Nishinoya-san,” spoke up Yamaguchi finally. “That means it’s one of those bonus time puzzles, right?”

“Right, Yamaguchi-kun! So don’t worry about it now, Nishinoya-kun! If we need the time later, we can try to solve it.” responded Sugawara. He looked over at Daichi, who was doing his best to search for clues as well. They made eye contact and though Sugawara could see that Daichi was still worried about how this plan would go, he could also see how determined he was and how much faith in had in Sugawara’s plan. “Once again, does anyone have keys or something to get us out of these handcuffs? That’ll probably make searching for clues much easier.”

“Don’t worry, Suga-san. I have some keys right here,” Ennoshita said calmly from his cell. “They were in a cigarette box in our cell. I think they should be able to get everyone uncuffed too.”

Ennoshita made quick work of his handcuffs before moving onto the other two in his cell. As expected, the handcuffs came undone and they were free from their restraints.

“Ennoshita!” cried Tanaka. “You’ve saved us all! How will I ever repay you?!”

“Thank god,” added Kinoshita. “Thanks, Ennoshita.”

“No problem, you guys. Tanaka, you can repay me by putting your shirt back on! I told you to stop doing that!”

Ennoshita sighed and shook his head at Tanaka’s behavior. Once Tanaka was dressed again, Ennoshita made his way over to the cell door and called for Narita in the cell across from him. Being close friends, Ennoshita didn’t have to say anything as he quickly tossed the keys over and his friend caught them deftly, quickly unlocking himself and the two first years in his cell.

“We’re free! Kageyama! We’re free!” shouted Hinata, while jumping up and down.

“Idiot! We’re still locked in these cells, so keep looking for clues!”

Kageyama was about to reach a hand out to hit Hinata when Narita stopped him.

“No. Stop. Keep looking for clues, okay?”

Kageyama pouted at this, while Hinata smiled innocently. Narita gave them both stern looks before turning his attention away from them.

While Hinata and Kageyama continued searching the room, Narita was able to toss the keys over to Nishinoya, who caught them excitedly and unlocked Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. He beamed proudly as Yamaguchi thanked him before tossing the keys over to his senpais. Sugawara gave him an appreciative smile and thanked him before unlocking the three in his cell. Step 1 was complete. It was certainly a good start.

“Good job, everyone! We’re out of our handcuffs. Now, onto getting out of these cells!” announced Sugawara. “Keep looking through your own cells, everyone, but I think Hinata was onto something with the bedsheets. There could be clues under the beds, so check there too.”

Sugawara could hear some more rustling and bustling about in the other cells. He then turned his attention back to his own cell.

“Daichi, help me with this?” asked Sugawara as he gestured towards the bed. Daichi gave him a firm nod before the two of them began pulling up the sheets and the mattress.

“This going the way you hoped it would?” whispered Daichi. “I mean, it still feels like chaos to me, but it seems like it’s getting better.”

“I think they’ll be alright,” responded Sugawara after a beat. “Maybe we won’t get out, but they  _ do  _ seem to be getting better and that’s what we wanted. Right?”

The captain and vice-captain smiled at each other before going back to their search. The called out to the rest of the team to check on their progress. Each of them finding more parts to this massive puzzle they had to put together. They still had a lot to do, but they were making progress and that was more than either Daichi or Sugawara could ask for.

* * *

More time progressed and more clues were discovered. Escape was becoming a more likely possibility for them and they were slowly growing giddy with more excitement. Everyone was busy trying to piece together clues and finding more and looking for a possible way to get out. Well, everyone except for one person, that is.

Tsukishima was currently sitting on the ground, next to the sink in his cell. He watched boredly as Nishinoya ran around wildly and Yamaguchi follow him, attempting to keep their senpai calm. He was trying to keep calm himself since he hated the idea of having to be stuck with these idiots. The damn tapping noise in his cell wasn’t helping either. He assumed it was added to make the experience more “authentic,” but all it was doing was giving him a headache.

He knew this would be a stupid idea the moment they arrived, but it was too late for him to leave since the captain and vice-captain quickly herded them all into the room. The handcuffs hadn’t been beneficial to him either. He was good, but not  _ that _ good. Truthfully though, Tsukishima was already a few steps ahead of the team. It was hard to not pay attention to what was going on when everything was being yelled in your face, so he had already connected a few of the clues together. He wasn’t going to tell them, of course. They could figure that out on their own. It wouldn’t benefit him anyway. Instead, Tsukishima sighed to himself and watched as the others ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. This was a stupid idea, but it was kind of amusing watching them panic like this. If only he could stop that dumb tapping though. Someone should tone it down with that.

Tsukishima hadn’t realized how much time had past, until he heard a voice over the intercom announce that they had thirty minutes left. That was then followed by various screams from Hinata, Tanaka, and Nishinoya, which made him roll his eyes and sigh loudly. Ennoshita was yelling at Tanaka about his shirt again. He then looked up at the cell across from him and could see the captain look as if he was ready to punch through one of the walls. Sugawara was frantically trying to calm him down as well as stop Asahi’s crying again. Thirty more long minutes stuck with these idiots. God.

Nishinoya had long since forgotten about Tsukishima, too enthralled with all of the puzzles, but Yamaguchi hadn’t forgotten about his best friend. He gave him a bored look that Yamaguchi returned with a happy smile.

“Tsuki, you aren’t going to help out?”

Tsukishima said nothing in response and continued to stare at his friend, a bored and mildly irritated expression on his face.

“Come on, Tsuki. Help us out. It’s kind of fun.”

Tsukishima scoffed and crossed his arms. He turned his head away and refused to look at Yamaguchi in front of him, knowing he still had that stupid grin on his face.

“Alright. If you happen to change your mind, we could always use some help, Tsuki.”

Yamaguchi left Tsukishima to his thoughts and the annoying tapping again. He knew from Yamaguchi’s tone that he knew that Tsukishima had already solved a few clues. He obviously didn’t want to let the others know this and for that, Tsukishima was grateful. However, in the back of his mind, he was also starting to feel just the slightest bit guilty now.

Damn that best friend of his.

* * *

“Wait! What?! What do you mean we only have fifteen minutes left?!” Hinata screamed.

With a fourth of their time left, the team was left in the same position that they were in earlier and the tension was rising. They had clues from all of the cells, but no clear way to connect all of them and they were starting to panic. What seemed possible only five minutes ago, now seemed like an impossible dream and it was slowly bringing them down.

“Hinata-kun, calm down. It’s going to be fine. We’re going to solve this. Okay?” reassured Sugawara from his cell. Luckily for him, Hinata couldn’t see the worried look that he gave to Daichi.

“Maybe I can finally punch through the walls and get us out of here, Suga,” growled Daichi with a menacing look. Anyone else on the team would’ve allowed the captain to do so after seeing the murderous look on his face, but Sugawara wasn’t about to let that happen.

“No. No!” stated Sugawara sternly. “You are NOT going to punch a wall or break anything in these cells unless you are 100% prepared to pay for the damages, Daichi! I already paid for us to be here and I am NOT about to pay for anything else. So if you’re ready to pay that much, then be my guest.”

Asahi had to sit and watch anxiously as the captain and vice-captain were engaged in a heated staring contest. Neither of them were seemed to be back down, but after a beat, Daichi finally relented and sighed. Sugawara’s face went back to it’s usual soft expression.

“Alright. Fine. I won’t punch through the walls, but what about the hint? We haven’t used it yet. Maybe we should use it now,” mused Daichi.

“No way, captain! We’re not going to cop out and use a hint! We’re getting out of this by ourselves!” yelled Tanaka. Nishinoya and Hinata yelled out their supportive comments shortly after. Knowing it would be pointless, Daichi gave an exasperated sigh and let it be.

“But we’re still stuck in here, Tanaka. We have to think this through,” added Ennoshita. “And what did I tell you about your shirt?”

“I know! But I think we can do this! I really do!”

“It’s great that you all want to do this on your own, but time is ticking and we have to do something, everyone,” Narita spoke up.

Tsukishima was still pissed off about being in this situation and it didn’t help when Yamaguchi suddenly turned to look at him with a pleading expression.

“Tsuki, please?”

Tsukishima turned to look away, but could still feel Yamaguchi’s gaze on him. He knew he was making that sad kicked puppy look that he could never say no to. Not that he’d ever admit it, of course. Finally, Tsukishima couldn’t take it anymore and got up with a groan. Yamaguchi’s face immediately lit up.

“Thank you, Tsuki!”

“Whatever.”

Walking over to the cell door, Tsukishima got everyone’s attention.

“Hey. Idiots. Listen up. The code in our cell goes with the code in cell 2. It’s going to spell out something and will probably give you the code for the switches next to cell 2. Now, stop yelling and figure it out already! I want to go home!”

The yelling was now replaced with loud cheering and Tsukishima didn’t know what was worse, given that Nishinoya was now jumping up and down next to him instead of around him. His senpai then quickly went over the code in their room and was trying to explain it to Tanaka in the cell next to them. Luckily, Ennoshita and Kinoshita were there to interpret it. He rolled his eyes at all of their childish behavior and was about to sit down again when the captain and vice-captain caught his attention. Both of them said nothing to him, but Sugawara flashed him his signature smile, gratitude laced within it, while Daichi nodded in acknowledgment. Both of their faces showing clear signs of relief and thankfulness. Tsukishima turned away quickly. He wasn’t going to admit it, but it felt nice knowing that he was able to help out.

Soon enough, the code was cracked and a new key was found in cell 3. Sugawara made quick work of getting the cell unlocked, much to Asahi’s relief, and he quickly unlocked the other three cells as well. The team cheered wildly once again now that they were all free from their cells, but Daichi was quick to remind them that they were still locked in the prison.

“There’s another switch box at the end by the door. There has to be a code to it somewhere, you guys. We have to find it. We’re so close.”

The team all nodded at this, but it was clear that they were reaching the end of their limit. They had searched each of these cells for so long and found everything that they could, but there was no sign of another code like that. They went back to look for it again, minus Tsukishima, who was just glad to get out of the damn cell and was now standing outside of it, waiting for time to finish. Daichi noticed this and approached the middle blocker.

“Come on, Tsukishima-kun. We’re really close and we could use the extra help again.”

“Tch. Whatever. I’ve got nothing more to share anyway. It’s not like I could solve anything else with the stupid tapping.”

Daichi nodded at this and was about to walk away, when he suddenly thought about what Tsukishima had just said. His forehead furrowed in confusion.

“Wait a minute. Tapping? What tapping?”

Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed.

“The tapping from the pipe. The stupid recording they put in for the background atmosphere. It’s a good idea, but they really need to tone it down. I have a massive headache because of it now.”

Daichi suddenly pushed past Tsukishima to enter cell 1. The middle blocker looked over his shoulder at his captain and saw him looking around alongside Nishinoya and Yamaguchi. He watched as he paused near the sink and crouched down near where Tsukishima had been sitting earlier. He remained there for a beat before jumping back up again and running towards the switch box.

“Captain?” called out Sugawara as he caught Daichi running when he exited from another cell. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“Nishinoya! Yamaguchi! Count the clanging in your cell!”

“What?” asked Nishinoya and Yamaguchi in unison.

“The clanging in your cell! It’s the last code! The number of taps corresponds with a number!”

The team all gasped at this and smiled brightly as the two players quickly rattled off the number for their captain. They cheered for their captain and his hard work. They all held their breaths as the switches were flipped and prayed it was correct.

The door unlocked. They were free.

* * *

“Freeeeedom!” yelled Hinata the second he walked out the door. He was already jumping around excitedly. “Freeedom! We’re free, Kageyama! We’re free!”

“Oh thank god!” cried Asahi. The team was immediately by his side the moment he collapsed to the ground. “I thought we were going to be in there forever! I’m too young to go to prison! I thought we’d never make it!”

The team all laughed at this, while trying to comfort their glass-hearted giant. Tanaka had stripped again, but Ennoshita didn’t bother telling him to put his shirt back on again. All of them shared in Asahi’s sentiment though. By some miracle, they had made it out. They had all worked together and gotten free from the cells and they couldn’t have been happier.

Daichi and Sugawara both straightened up as the team congratulated each other. They both looked at each other and gave each other bright smiles. Daichi clapped a hand onto Sugawara’s shoulder.

“I guess your plan worked out after all.”

“I guess it did.”

They both laughed at this before sighing with relief. It was done. It was over. It had been like pulling teeth, but they did it. There had been doubts at first and yeah, maybe they weren’t a perfect team yet, but they had done it and that was a damn good start.

* * *

The next time they all met up for practice, Ukai was surprised to find that none of them looked as if they were going to rip someone’s head off. They still fought and yelled at each other, but the banter this time was all in good fun and the yelling was part of their enthusiasm for practice. Ukai even had to do a double-take when he noticed Tsukishima not insult Kageyama after a missed set. It was an odd sight for him, but definitely not unwelcome.

“Sensei,” spoke Ukai suddenly, “what happened to the team?”

The team advisor next to him turned to look at him, fiddling with his glasses slightly. Ukai was surprised to see him confused as well.

“I’m not sure, actually, but whatever it was, it was good for them, right?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

Ukai frowned slightly at this, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. The rest of practice continued uneventfully as well, which made Ukai even more confused. As they were all cleaning up and preparing to leave, Ukai headed over to Sugawara to see if he could get any answers because if anyone would know, it would be Sugawara.

“Sugawara, question for you. What happened to the team? I’m not complaining or anything, but the last time I saw you guys, you were ready to start a civil war. What happened between then and now? You lock them in a room together or something?”

Ukai raised an eyebrow when he saw Sugawara smirk.

“Something like that.”

Ukai’s expression grew even more confused by the vice-captain’s cryptic words. He shook his head before walking away. He could hear Sugawara chuckling behind him.

* * *

“So why were we banned again? It’s not like we destroyed anything.”

“Well, no, we didn’t, but they said since our group was so big and loud, it was really hard for them to keep track of us and not go insane. I mean, between Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata’s yelling.”

“Right.”

“Tanaka’s constant stripping.”

“Of course.”

“Kageyama and Hinata’s fighting.”

“Yeah.”

“Asahi’s crying.”

“Uh huh.”

“And your anger.”

“Oh. Well…”

Daichi looked away sheepishly at this, while Sugawara chuckled before continuing.

“It’s completely understandable why we were banned. They said we could go as smaller groups though, but if we plan on going as a team again, we have to wait three months because that’s all they can handle.”

Daichi laughed at Sugawara’s explanation and shook his head. It was a bit ridiculous, but he understood where they were coming from. They weren’t exactly the most cohesive group, but they were getting there.

“We could do smaller groups, I guess. But we’re a team now, so where’s the fun in that?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so very much for pushing through and reading my first Haikyuu!! fic. Comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated, but hey, I don't control your life. But really, thank you for reading this! It really means a lot to me!
> 
> [dangcommaannie.tumblr.com](http://dangcommaannie.tumblr.com/)


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